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Cliff leaders have rebranded a once discarded area through historic preservation and creative urban design, making the Bishop Arts District an entertainment and dining destination. Lake Highlands residents join in hopes of resolving issues such as infrastructure at Skillman and LBJ, crime hotspots, and a lack of retail. These neighborhoods and their landmarks are represented on T-shirts and coffee mugs and wall art. The Lake Highlands business community even outsourced a firm to create a neighborhood brand and logo.

Why isn’t Preston Hollow like that? Herein lies the difference: Other neighborhoods have formed their identities by reinventing

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2299 County Road 2008 Glen Rose, Texas 76043 254.897.2960 fossilrim.org themselves at some point and are, perhaps, still reinventing themselves. Preston Hollow is and always has been defined simply as a desirable place to live. It has good home values, the top private schools, quality grocery stores, plenty of neighborhood restaurants and services, and convenient access to other parts of the city. Aside from what attracts homebuyers, people are not united under one identity.

“I don’t think that’s important,” says Dallas City Councilmember Jennifer Staubach Gates. “They go there for those reasons. They don’t feel like they’re rallying around the cry of ‘We’re in Preston Hollow.’ They might describe where they live as Preston Hollow, but it’s not like there’s a mascot.” continued on p. 22

WHERE IS PRESTON HOLLOW?

JENNIFER STAUBACH GATES is the District 13 City Councilmember, representing all of what was historically known as Preston Hollow. Parts of her council district extend to LBJ Freeway and past Webb Chapel. Gates actually grew up in Far North Dallas near Hillcrest and Alpha, but attended Ursuline Academy and now lives in Royal Northaven.

Is

Cynthia Langhorst and her young family recently moved from the M Streets to Preston Hollow East (for all of the above reasons), and she’s on the board of the Preston Hollow Early Childhood Association. The SMU alumna doesn’t know much about the boundaries of the neighborhood, except that, “it does seem to keep spreading.” Things were different in her native city of Chicago.

“Chicago has very defined neighborhoods,” she says. “Each neighborhood is its own thing. You know when you’re in Lincoln Park. Dallas is spread out. It’s not a walkable city, except for parts of Greenville Avenue.”

That, she says, makes it hard to identify with Preston Hollow as a neighborhood. It has landmarks, but like the boundaries, those are debatable, too. The Inwood Theater and Preston Center are ours, but they could just as well belong to the Park Cities. The iconic 1970s-era mural along Forest Lane is arguably not in Preston Hollow. That leaves possibly the Jewish Community Center, Town North YMCA, Preston Royal Library and retail signage for Preston Royal Village or Dougherty’s Pharmacy.

Many neighbors rally around their

WHERE IS PRESTON HOLLOW?

LEE KLEINMAN is the District 11 City Councilmember, representing the rest of our neighborhood north of Royal, and extending into Far North Dallas. He grew up on Alta Vista, attended St. Mark’s and now lives off Northaven. faith communities. Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church and Temple Emanu-El are just a couple of the longstanding houses of worship that produce topnotch musical programs and act as neighborhood gathering places.

Still, there is something missing from the Preston Hollow puzzle that could contribute to our sense of community — public green space.

“I think we’re welcoming, but there’s not an abundance of parks where people are congregating,” Gates says.

That began to change with the construction of the Northaven Trail, though not in Preston Hollow proper, according to some. It runs from Lavendale to Preston and last fall received a $2.5 million grant from the North Texas Council of Governments to extend west to the Walnut Hill/Denton Drive DART Station. The Friends of the Northaven Trail have come together to provide trail enhancements and organize community events. In April, the group is hosting its first-ever 5k run.

Kleinman and Gates are working to find funding for a temporary dog park at Forest and Nuestra (see more on page 9).

“I think people want to be a part of good things going on,” Kleinman says. “People want a place to meet. They want to engage.”

While the question, “Where is Preston Hollow?”, may continue to confound neighbors, arriving at a clear answer isn’t all that important in the end. Residents are too busy enjoying their new homes, big yards and shopping destinations to worry about what to call this collection of neighborhoods.

“That’s a better description for it,” Gates says, “a collection of neighborhoods. We’re talking about a pretty vast area that we’re trying to call Preston Hollow, so you’re not going to have that kind of cohesiveness.”

And that’s OK.

“It’s a description of their community, and then they make their neighborhoods vibrant and active.”

Baptist

PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org

All services & Bible Study 9:15 & 10:45. Trad. & Blended (Sanctuary),

Contemporary (Great Hall), Amigos de Dios (Gym) / 214.860.1500

PRESTONWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH / “A Church to Call Home”

Sundays: Bible Fellowship (all ages) 9:15 am /Service Time 11:00 am

12123 Hillcrest Road / 972.820.5000 / prestonwood.org

WILSHIRE BAPTIST / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100

Pastor George A. Mason Ph.D. / Worship 8:30 & 11:00 am

Bible Study 9:40 am / www.wilshirebc.org

Bible Churches

NORTH HIGHLANDS BIBLE CHURCH / www.nhbc.net

Sunday: Lifequest (all ages) 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am

Wed: Student Ministry 7:00 pm / 9626 Church Road / 214.348.9697

Disciples Of Christ

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / THE TABLE Worship 9:30 am

Worship 8:30 & 10:50 am / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

Lutheran

FIRST UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH / 6202 E Mockingbird Lane

Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule.

214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org

Methodist

LAKE HIGHLANDS UMC / 9015 Plano Rd. / 214.348.6600 / lhumc.com

Sunday Morning: 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:30 am Coffee

Worship: 8:30 am & 10:50 am Traditional / 10:50 am Contemporary

Unity

UNITY OF DALLAS / A Positive Path for Spiritual Living

6525 Forest Lane, Dallas, TX 75230 / 972.233.7106 / UnityDallas.org

10:30 am Sunday - Celebration Worship Service

UNITY ON GREENVILLE / Your soul is welcome here!

3425 Greenville Ave. / 214.826.5683 / www.dallasunity.org

Sunday Service 11:00 am and Book Study 9:30 am